Dan Dugan Sound Design Launches 50th Anniversary Celebration

	Dan Dugan, Dan Dugan Sound Design

Dan Dugan Sound Design is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018 and has launched its year-long celebration. Company founder Dan Dugan, CEO of Dan Dugan Sound Design, Inc. will be at the company's USITT Conference and Stage Expo booth 1505, to greet attendees and conduct his "killer demo" of legendary Dugan automatic microphone mixing technologies. Dugan will also present an explanation of his technology in the Sound Room at 4:30pm on March 14.

Dugan became the theater industry's first sound designer -- a title that was coined for him. Dan Dugan Sound Design came into existence after the young Dugan, a sound engineer in US regional repertory theatre, went freelance in 1968.

Dugan became intrigued with how difficult it was to manage several banks of microphone faders simultaneously during live performances. This led to his invention of the automatic microphone mixer, radically improving the quality of sound operation in installed sound, conferences, and broadcasting. No longer did audio mixers have to sweat fading up the next talker while keeping system gain under the feedback point; instead, they were free to focus on the quality of the mix.

An automixer controls a group of live microphones, turning up mics when someone is talking and turning down mics that aren't being used. The real-time voice-activated process invented by Dugan maintains overall system gain and ensures everyone is being heard at the right time. The technologies invented by Dugan are widely recognized for their "transparent" gain-sharing operation. Overall system gain is held at the level of one microphone, regardless of who is talking, how loudly (or softly) they are talking or how many people are trying to talk at once. Operation is simple: microphones are connected, system gain is set, and the automixer takes care of the rest. The result is clear, understandable audio without upcutting of microphones or shifts in noise.

Over the years, Dugan products have been updated to conform to changing industry standards. Modern DSP technique has been adopted, as well as current modes of I/O including ADAT, MADI, and Dante. Control of "Dugans" has also progressed with the years, with remote control via PC, an iPad app, and a physical control surface option.

Dugan products are used in education, corporate, live theatre, television, and government settings worldwide. In addition to manufacturing his own products, which connect to standard audio consoles via insert points, Dan Dugan licenses his algorithms to other manufacturers. Yamaha has now adopted Dugan technology in all of their digital mixing consoles, and Dugan automixing is available in products from Waves, Sound Devices, and Protech Audio. Dugan also manufactures a plug-in automixer card for selected Avid products.

When not in his lab in San Francisco, California, Dugan is an avid recordist for the Nature Sounds Society, often capturing unique recordings in Yosemite National Park. He also has a lively interest in philosophy (particularly skepticism), the philosophy of science, and current controversies about scientific paradigms and alternative medicine. In the professional audio world, Dugan actively challenges fraudulent and overly extravagant claims relating to the high-end hi-fi business.